Muskegon Mona Shores varsity football coach draws two-game suspension

Mona Shores football coach Matt Koziak will not be allowed to coach the Sailors in the first two games of the 2013 season. (Ken Stevens|MLive.com)

MUSKEGON, MI. – Mona Shores varsity football coach Matt Koziak will not be on the sidelines for the first two games next fall.

Koziak has been suspended for two games after it was self-reported by the school to the Michigan High School Athletic Association that he had “undue influence” on a potential transfer student from Grand Haven.

Mona Shores athletic director Ryan Portenga said contact between Koziak and the player did not follow the protocol of the MHSAA’s enrollment rules.

“Matt was cooperative and accepted full responsibility for the incident,” Portenga said. “We’re all pretty down about the situation, considering this was our school’s first offense and his personal first offense. I thought things might turn out differently, especially considering we self-reported it.”

Portenga said Mona Shores was given the choice of suspending Koziak or the team serving a one-year ban from the playoffs.

Koziak will miss road games against Muskegon Catholic Central and Spring Lake, but will be able to coach all practices and the remainder of the season. He can’t have access to the team three hours before and until three hours after each game.

Koziak declined comment and said statements on the situation would come from Portenga.

Portenga called it a case of “poor judgment” and not an intentional violation of the rules by Koziak when the incident occurred in November.

“We’re going to move forward as a program,” Portenga said. “We’ve learned a valuable lesson. Matt Koziak has learned a valuable lesson how to handle incoming students. In fact, the whole state is learning a valuable lesson on transiency between schools, especially among athletes. It’s becoming more and more prevalent in our 9-12 (grade) society.

The 2013 season will be Koziak’s third year in charge of the Sailors’ program. The team went 4-5 in 2012 and the program is still looking for its first playoff berth in school history.

“We’re pretty solid as a program right now,” Portenga said. “We’ve grown our program from 65 students in 2009-10 to over 100 right now and we’re very proud of that. We’re very proud of what Matt Koziak has done in the short time he’s been here, and although this is a step backward, we’ve only taken steps forward since he’s been on campus. We’re going to get past this as a school district and a program and he’s going to learn a lot from it as a coach and human being.

“He’s a good man, full on integrity and handled it right after the fact that he didn’t follow the proper channels with enrollment. Everything else he’s handled perfectly.”

The student in question also had contact with the Reeths-Puffer football program, but R-P athletic director Tony Schmitt said no game suspension was issued to Rockets’ head coach Kyle Jewett.